$50 bill change smacks of racism

Here's another idea from the GOP's Department of Crazy.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) wants to remove Ulysses Grant from the $50 bill and replace him with Ronald Reagan.

No, I'm not making this up.

McHenry's measure has several Republican cosponsors, mostly from the South.

McHenry merely says it's because Reagan is generally regarded as a better President than Grant. Um, no. He isn't. Much of the effort to replace Grant with Reagan is motivated by the continuing disdain for Grant held by neo-Confederates such as McHenry.

As a general, Ulysses Grant led the North to victory in the Civil War. Grant was also the first President ever to sign a civil rights law. His administration also prosecuted Ku Klux Klan terrorists.

Reagan, on the other hand, received KKK support (albeit to a lesser degree than the younger Bush did).

A lot of times, people will argue over whether some public policy was motivated by racism. But I'm 100% convinced that racism is behind the proposed $50 bill change. It's not a coincidence that McHenry's measure would replace the first President to sign a civil rights bill with one of the few who received Klan backing.

The Republican Right seems to have this seething, bubbling hostility regarding civil rights. This plan to change the $50 bill symbolizes the enmity that lurks in their very hearts.